And then the Inspector looked around and filed a Notice of Violation yesterday.

“On 5/21/14 Inspector Steve Mungovan investigated the complaint at unit #25 of the subject property and observed violations of the San Francisco Housing Code which are delineated within the Notice of Violation issued on 5/22/2014 identified by Complaint Tracking #201474055. Pertinent observations are as follows: Peeling paint and damaged wall surfaces.”

This is only going to get worse for this particular landlord.

Oh, and guess what? If the LL tries to evict anybody soon, that action just might be presumed to be a retaliatory eviction.

Ouch.

On It Goes…

Description:

The kitchen sink hot water pipe was changed out previously from galvanized to bronze; they didnt change out the cold water, which is still leaking. Because the building and piping is old, there are blockages. He has had water leak out and found standing water in the apartment. **He has had a water leak from rain that is coming through the window and there is damage to the wall below. There was also a large crack about 2-3 inches deep and a crack on the outside, where the water is coming in. The apartment has not been painted since he moved in, in 1989. Cracks in walls.

Here’s the post from Hoodline. It shows part of a letter given to all the tenants at, let’s say, 312 Fillmore on Haight.

Can’t say that I know the purpose, but it could be to give a heads up to tenants who might wish to replace a roommate under the rules laid out by the San Francisco Rent Board. There’s some stuff in there about landlords “unreasonably” withholding consent from existing tenants who want to get a new roomie. Of course there are all kinds of factors that determine who and how many people can live in a unit in rent controlled SF, so it’s not impossible that you’d have two people in a one bedroom and then one moves out and another wants to move in. And at that point, that’s where incomes and credit scores can become factors. And if the LL says no to a potential new roomie, that’s when things can go to the SFRB.

(But, by all means, go ask Robert (or whatever his name is) what his intent was. And if he says, “Well, I’m evicting everybody in the building who makes less than $100k,” well, then the conclusion you all jumped to was OK fine.)

The proper response here is to ignore the letter and store it away along with all the others.

“USF School of Law Celebrates 100 Years in San Francisco – Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to Speak at Convocation

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 17, 2012 — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will kick off a year-long celebration at the University of San Francisco School of Law, which is commemorating its 100(th) birthday and a century of providing a premiere legal education at the city’s first university.

Kennedy will deliver a keynote address during the public convocation on Wed., Sept. 19 at 5 p.m. inside St. Ignatius Church on the USF campus. Kennedy is a professor of environmental law at Pace University and co-director of that school’s Environmental Litigation Clinic. He was named one of Time magazine’s “Heroes for the Planet” for his success in helping restore New York’s Hudson River.

“Our centennial celebration is about far more than longevity,” said Jeffrey Brand, dean of the USF School of Law. “It’s about one hundred years of offering an education with a conscience, and graduating top attorneys who empower the powerless and help change a world plagued by injustice. As we begin our second century in this magnificent city, we rededicate ourselves to our vital mission of educating for justice.”

Social justice is a cornerstone of the school’s identity. In 2011-12 alone, USF law students provided 22,000 hours of pro-bono legal work to underserved communities, and the school-sponsored seven free law clinics, including the Investor Justice Clinic where students represent investors in actions involving allegations of wrongdoing by securities firms or their employees, and the Child Advocacy Law Clinic in which students receive training and, under the supervision of the clinic director, represent abused, neglected, or abandoned children in child welfare proceedings.

The USF School of Law began on Sept. 18, 1912 on the corner of Market and 7(th) Streets in downtown San Francisco with three faculty and 39 students. Today, it has 40 influential legal scholars who teach 700 students on the USF Law School campus near Golden Gate Park. The school is proud to be one of the nation’s most diverse with nearly half of its law students identifying themselves as ethnic minorities, and 53% are women.

The USF School of Law is sponsoring a number of notable events during its year-long centennial celebration, including:

— Nov. 9: Public Interest Law Foundation Annual Auction and Award Ceremony honoring David Boies, chairman of the law firm Boies, Schiller & Flexner. This is a fundraiser to provide grants to law students working in unpaid public interest law jobs during summer break.

The University of San Francisco School of Law is located in the heart of one of the world’s most innovative and diverse cities. The law school pursues excellence in a humane, diverse, and intellectually vibrant learning community of outstanding teachers and scholars dedicated to training ethical professionals. Its diverse student body enjoys direct access to faculty, small classes, and innovative programming that educates students to be skilled and effective lawyers ready to practice law. Now celebrating its centennial year, the USF School of Law is ranked as one of the “Top 170 Law Schools” by Princeton Review and the 10(th) most ethnically diverse law school in the nation by U.S. News and World Report. For more information, please visit www.usfca.edu/law.

Journalists interested in covering the Sept. 19 convocation, or any other centennial event, must register in advance by contacting Anne-Marie Devine at (415) 422-2697 or abdevine@usfca.edu.

Well, ’cause bad reality TV played a role in aging Robert Hanamura losing his upstairs place at 479 Douglass ($850k? Sounds cheap.) in NIMBY Valley.

Let me tell you here, let’s say you’re a landlord in the 415 and you have some Hanamuras living upstairs that you want get rid of. Let’s say they’ve been there for donkey’s years, using an illegally-installed kitchen. Here’s how it go back in the day:

1942:

Landlord: Hello, City? There’s an octogenarian in my place using an illegal kitchen.

City: So what. Get bent.

Landlord: Japanese blood courses through his veins. His name is HA-NA-MU-RA.

City: We’re rolling the trucks right now! He’ll be imprisoned up in the high desert at Manzanar by tomorrow’s sunset.

Compare:

2010:

“Anonymous disinterested party”: Hello, City? There’s an octogenarian living at 479 Douglass – his name is Hanamura. Japanese blood courses through his veins.

City: So what. Get bent. Who are you anyway, the landlord or someone working on his behalf?

ADP: No comment. I’m “anonymous.”

City: So what. Get bent, Anonymous.

ADP: He’s using an illegal kitchen. Or, at least that’s what I’ve been told…

City: We’re rolling the trucks right now! Well, maybe not, there’s some due process thing these days. But hey, why don’t you just throw him a few bucks and get him to leave voluntarily. Tell him that kitchen’s got to come out right now, and him too, sooner rather than later.

“He is clearly an insecure man. Insecure about the very things for which he criticizes the “swap” wife. First, an advanced degree from the London School is hardly impressive in the venture capital world. Most VC’s have received their MBA’s from Harvard or Stanford and if you were able to gain admittance to either of those schools, you would never attend the London School. Second, he claims to have scored a 99.99% on the GRE. (BTW, not the standardized test for an MBA) The GRE only scores in even percentiles. For example, he would have not received a score that said 99.99 percentile (as he states in the video), but rather it would have said 99th percentile. Samll point, but character revealing. He calls himself a venture capitalist, but he is only a “venture partner.” Anyone in the venture world knows there is a big distinction. In San Francisco, he is a small fish who lacks impressive education and business credentials and from a career perspective, he has achieved relatively little. His wife has a bunch of “certificates,” an odd occupation, and is uncouth enough to apply for and agree to a role on a reality TV show. In San Francisco, they were most likely socially inferior even BEFORE their appearance on “Wife Swap.” I’m not a psychologist, but Stephen appears to be taking out his feelings of inadequacy on this woman. Kudos to her for keeping her dignity through it all.

The powerful San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee is, once again, having elections come November. You’ll be confronted, once again, with a ballot that’s filled with a bunch of names, most of which you’ve never heard of, and the obligation to check off your dozen favorites.

If you want, you can head over to the intersection of Market and Octavia this Saturday, April 3, 2010 and then head into the the LGBT Center‘s Ceremonial Room from Noon to 5:00 PM. Then you’ll be able to see and hear some of the candidates for DCCC in 2010 address members of the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club.

They’ll all be answering a few questions from the crowd. (I don’t know if you need to be a member of the club to drop by, but you should be able to join the club, of course, if you want.)

The 12th District (Assemblywoman Fiona Ma country) reps the west side and 13th District (Assemblymember Tom Ammiano country) reps the east side of town, mas o menos. Find your district and see if any of these folks will be one of your twelve favorites:

And, oh yes, Alex Volberding would like everyone to know that he too is running for the DCCC in the 12th. But the two lists above aren’t exhaustive, they just show who plans on showing up at the next Milk Club PAC meeting. (The entire exhausting list of candidates for S.F. has 51(!) names this go-around.)

Napa’s in the Bay Area, right? It’s super close to San Francisco. So let’s take a look and see how the Great Recession of 2007-???? (aka the “late-2000s recession“) is affecting our Neighbor to the North.

Let’s start with the view from the St. Helena Highway, aka Route 29, aka Main Street. (It’s the main drag for the whole entire valley, you know.) Here’s the old Radio Flyer on the train tracks motif:

What happens if you can’t afford the rent and a car? What happens if you, as many in Napa and Sonoma counties have done before you, get a DUI or two and you lose your license to drive? How do you get to work or the store without a car? Let’s take a look:

Napa can’t afford sidewalks? Apparently. Of course, if you’re on a bicycle (not recommended) you would pedal along on the shoulder/breakdown lane, but if you’re on your feet, well, remember all the drunk drivers? I mean, DWI is a Way of Life up there.

I mean, bacon-rich Cincinnati has its local Hog Report so shouldn’t lush-rich Napa have a local DUI Report? Oh wait, it does!

By the way, be sure to “Avoid the 9” policing agencies that will bust you:

And let’s not even think about heading Further North to the St. Helena Premium Outlets place. Cue tumbleweeds.

So, what’s worse:

Busy, crowded Napa Valley; or

Ghost town* Napa Valley?

That’s a tough choice for some people. Oh well.

But now’s your chance to get on up there and see what it was like back in the day, before Napa became a major tourist destination. COPIA: The American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts isn’t around anymore, but all the other places will be staffed with folks happy to see you, I’m sure.

I almost wanted to buy something, but then I remembered about the Buy Local Movement. I’m not a local, really, so I probably shouldn’t spend my hard-earned up there.

But you, you’re welcome to visit, especially before things pick up again in the Spring of 2010.

Well, for starters, he’s the most famous Not In My Back Yard (NIMBY) representative on the planet. We can’t have a wind farm close to the Kennedy Compound? Apparently. What’s so wrong with the idea of windmills at Yosemite or Cape Cod?

What’s the deal with turbines? Why does he hate them so? This issue would be an albatross around his neck from the get go.